What will the future of public transit entail?

Senior transportation planner Darin Ramsay answers questions during a Transit Open House

What would you like the future of public transit in the Cowichan Valley to look like?

Transit representatives made an attempt at finding this out during an open house, Sunday, February 6. A modified bus was set up outside of Lake Cowichan’s Country Grocer, where people were invited to fill out surveys, provide verbal input, and learn more about local transit in general.

This is part of phase one of a long-term vision, marketing co-ordinator Kealey Pringle said. Pringle was one of the handful of representatives on-hand to field questions and concerns.

And there were a lot of questions and concerns to handle, with people popping in and out of the bus throughout the afternoon visit.

“It’s at its very early stages right now,” she said. “We’ve been happy with the number of people at each spot.”

Following this final Lake Cowichan stop, CVRD Transit Manager Jim Wakeham confirmed that attendance at all nine open houses throughout the Cowichan Valley were excellent.

“This is to plan the next 25 years,” he said.

The trick now will be to gather the results of these nine open houses in order to figure out an underlying future plan.

“You don’t have a budget to do everything,” he said.

By mid-May, a second round of public consultation will take place in the Cowichan Valley, including another stop at Lake Cowichan.

In the more immediate future, the construction of six Cowichan Lake-area bus shelters will be completed by the end of March.

Improvements to Duncan commuter connections from both sides of Cowichan Lake will also be made in the near future, pending CVRD input.

A transit survey is still available online until Sunday, February 13, at www.bctransit.com/transitfuture/cowichan_latestupdates.cfm.